See You On The Other Side

Who am I without you? Carina becomes a widow in mid-life, when her husband dies after a short time of severe illness. She fumbles through the grief and the new existence as a single teenage mother. Who is she really after more than 20 years of marriage?

How do you find a new direction forward and start over when you're groping in the dark? this autobiographical novel is as much a life-affirming road trip as an acute life crisis management, where the protagonist Carina uses various mental and physical tools to get through the grief and start over.

A therapist urges her to embrace the inner void, her "don't know." In a dark basement, she attends a grief processing workshop. An American manifestation coach helps her manifest the new life. Aim higher than ever. A medium helps her connect with her dead husband who has something important to tell her.

See You On The Other Side - A Widow's Manifesto for the Rest of Her Life  is a revealing story about love, grief and loss. About letting death be more present in life, but above all about daring to move on when everything feels night black. Straight through the darkness, out the other side, where the sun shines again.

 

330 pages

 

Reviews:

” A warm, beautiful and life-affirming story with many bottoms ... A book that grips and digs deep.” - SVT Gokväll

” A book that hugs the heart but also clings to with a very strong light" - SVT Gokväll

” I'll See You On the Other Side by Carina Nunstedt is a story of life, love and death, which will stay with you long after you've finished reading it. - Adlibris.com

“Enjoying the incredibly fine I'll See You On the Other Side by far the best collection of the book fair. Only reading a chapter a day, don't want it to end too quickly.” @bookanza

”Important and touching. I think it will help many.” - Sofie Sarenbrant, Author

"Tear-filled reading but also full of light and hope." - Carina Berg

”One of the best books this fall”. /Bookshopkeeper Malin Wall

 

"This is a book of bottoms and space, a book of gratitude, a book of sadness, empathy, life-affirming... I think that there are many who may be wary of reading heavy subjects, but death touches us all, just like this book." - @skrivsalongen book blog

 

"My God, what a book... what a tear fest and what a wonder about all the twists and turns of life. But above all - what a food for thought about grief, the processing of it and what life looks like after the love of one's life.

I wallowed through Life After You (by Jojo Moyes) and have long been calling for an equally beautiful and sad weepy book. This one fell perfectly into that category. It is equally beautiful, strong and fragile. It contains all the puzzle pieces of life and oozes with the same spirit as that particular book.

I had it as an audiobook and was able to pause nicely after each chapter to listen to the songs quoted, cry some more and then mentally recharge before continuing. Music in books always adds an extra dimension to me, deepens the experience.

It is absolutely packed with emotions, everything from tears to laughter, joy to sadness. But above all - hope.

Read it, And give the music in it some attention. You will not regret it!" @Kafferatur  book blog

 

Readers reviews:

” Just finished reading your fantastic book. Read it straight through - couldn't put it down except to eat and walk the dog. So much love, pain but so life-affirming.” - Elli

” You write so beautifully and openly. The book has just been read and will be read further by close friends. This will be a book I read again. And again.” - Majken

“Think how many people you have touched with your book. Recognize me like that. I recommend it to everyone I talk to. “-  Rebecka

” In less than two days I have read your incredible book and the last pages are approaching. While reading, I have had my two children and my husband close to me ... your book has given me such a strong feeling of gratitude, warmth and love. I will take care of everything. Thank you for sharing.” - Maria

"Incredibly moving story, naked and honest. Thank you for many wise words and great insights about life. Would really recommend this book to anyone who has experienced grief (whatever the loss may be)
LEAH

“Became a widow three months ago. Your book is so good and affirming. Your book gives me hope. THANKS!!
@ugglan62

"Thanks! Just want to say thank you for the fine and important book you wrote. See you on the other side is so beautiful, touching and hopeful. I have been working as a priest for 21 years and have already recommended the book to several colleagues. Thank you for new insights and for the beautiful description of hope and love”
SUSANNE

"Hello Carina, I am completely enchanted by your book SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE. So heavy and so much sadness, but at the same time so full of life affirmation. Thanks! Light and love from Umeå.”
NINNIE

"Fantastically good, nicely and strongly written. I have cried, laughed and been totally engrossed in your/Your life. I will miss my daily contact with all the beautiful things you shared."
ULRIKA

"You write so beautifully, genuinely and warmly about all the shades of grief. I was so touched, will carry with me both your story and all your different strategies. THANKS!
KARIN

"I have just finished listening to your fantastic book and feel completely dazed and embraced by warmth and love. I have longed for every free moment of listening. The language and your way of expressing feelings has carried me forward. My very biggest thanks, Carina, for sharing this important topic in life so freely and bravely. Death. It should be allowed to take up more space in our lives in this way. Thanks!"
CAROLINE

"Your book was the first read of the year. So incredibly beautiful and emotional. Couldn't hold back the tears during the first few chapters but with each sunrise it got a little easier. I have already recommended it to several of my friends.”
CAMILLA

“This fine and important book by Carina Nunstedt is about losing his great love, his best friend in life and the father of his children. Way too early.
I felt that the book would touch me strongly and very truly I am already crying to the first page. Can't put it down. Sitting and crying to it on the commuter train and reading in bed until late at night.
It is such a strong and beautiful description of a family in the middle of life that is torn apart by illness.
It hurts, but in the darkest of times, Carina manages to find a way forward. You get to follow her into her innermost thoughts and feelings - everyday life that has to be managed but also new trips and nice and exciting meetings with new people. So rewarding and thought-provoking to be able to follow her step by step which becomes a new path in life.
I think a lot about not taking anything for granted. How important it is to go into the difficult and ask for help because alone is not strong. Applies to various difficult crises throughout life.
I think about how much bingeing on movies, podcasts, music, and books can help to move forward. The importance of writing. The importance of reflection. The importance of friends. The importance of therapy. To be able to stay in the difficult to come out of it stronger.
With Carina's fine book, I am reminded of how important it is to continue living while life is. Thank you for this experience. Think that such a sad book can also be so hopeful, bright and full of insights.” - @charlottaoom

 

Full review Carolines Bokhylla: 

“The heartbeat gets stuck.The sentences knock me right in the middle.

So. We meet a happy, harmonious family with two children who suddenly and out of nowhere are hit by a cancer diagnosis that ends with Carina's husband Anders dying at just 51 years old. Besides the sons, there is left a widow, with the remains and the rest of her life.

It's Fridays where emptiness laughs and life surges. It is memories that hurt and the meaninglessness that says Mais oui. Tears that burn meet music that makes the present forget. Feelings that claw and hope that spins. Here is a read that grips and digs deep. A highway to touching and affirming reading filled with the decisive moments of grief and self-healing on the brink of the rest of life.

It is indeed a book about death, sadness and loneliness, but most of all – and in stark contrast to it all – a story of life, love and hope. Based on a trusting look and a courageous curiosity, the author shows how a life close to death draws us closer to life itself.

Pierced, touched and broken. A reading where the heart tightens and hope clings. The author gives grief colors and thus life a larger palette. All with a rare presence, nerve and curiosity. For those who fall for authors with voice and space such as Didion and Gilbert – there is gold to be found here.

See You On the Other Side is a life-affirming and warm novel with many bottoms sprung from the void of loss and change. A kind of inner road trip through the landscape of grief along the path that spells the rest of life.

It is equal parts touching and beyond words to describe as breathtaking, healing and hopeful. With a timbre that leaves late and a sensitivity in tone that makes me bow in admiration, the author has crafted a story to hold close and dear.

One heartbeat, two.

She writes – Who am I without you? But I can't avoid asking myself, with my heart pounding; who am I without this reading experience? Nothing but a little shit.” -  Carolines Bokhylla, bookblog & TV host Go kväll